Importance of being able to Track Marketing

Marketing opportunities are everywhere. From traditional forms of advertising such as yellow pages, newspaper, magazines and post cards, to telemarketing, radio and billboards, the types of opportunities for businesses to promote a product are seemingly endless.

Over the years, new and ‘improved’ methods of promotion arise, with the advent of the internet, a marketplace of millions of people suddenly opened up to businesses of all sizes.

It’s impossible to say which method of marketing is best. It truly depends on each particular business. For some, expensive TV and Radio spots are actually better than highly targeted, niche advertisements found on the internet. Branding, customer demographics, and budget all play a part in how well a marketing campaign can work for a business.

However, one thing that is universally recommended by marketing experts, is that every new small/new business needs to start off by performing marketing strategies that have measurable results. For a business to be able to know which type of marketing works best for them, they need to have data in front of them to help make that decision.

For example, radio spots can reach a lot of people, but how can you rate how well it’s working in comparison to your investment? It’s difficult to measure how many sales are directly related to the number of times a market is exposed to a spot. In contrast, most internet marketing techniques allow businesses to specifically track how many people are exposed to a campaign, how people behave after being exposed to the product, and how many people contact/buy. This data is vital to being able to say “am I making money off of this campaign, or am I losing money?”

Be sure to apply tracking to any campaign you take part in. Whether you do that by adding analytical tools to your website, using a custom phone number to track calls, or using the variety of email/sms and social media analytic tools out there, only the data tells the truth.

Next time you’re sold on a marketing technique, always keep in mind that no one knows for sure what will work best. Only after testing and observing can you really know what works best for you.